Fat Tuesday: Kicking Off Tiki Tuesdays

Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", reflecting the practice of the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season.

The origins of Mardi Gras can be traced to medieval Europe, passing through Rome and Venice in the 17th and 18th centuries to the French House of the Bourbons.

House of Bourbon Crest

By the late 1830s, New Orleans held street processions of maskers with carriages and horseback riders to celebrate Mardi Gras. Gaslight torches, or "flambeaux," lit the way for the krewe's members and lent each event an exciting air of romance and festivity.

Mardi Gras: New Orleans 1907

Here at the QG we are kicking off our new weekly tradition on this appropriate holiday.

TIKI TUESDAYS

For Mardi Gras happy hour we will be featuring.

The Vieux Carre

Vieux Carre(The French Quarter Cocktail) combines brandy, rye, sweet vermouth, Bénédictine, Angostura bitters and local fave, Peychaud's bitters. It was invented by bartender Walter Bergeron in 1938 at the French Quarter’s Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone.

The Sazerac

Born in New Orleans in the mid 1800s at the Sazerac Coffee House, the original recipe featured French cognac. But in the late-19th century, the phylloxera outbreak caused shortage of grapes, and therefore cognac. In the absence of the drink’s original spirit, rye whiskey became the stardard base.

The Hurricane

In the 1940s, Pat O’Brien, the eponymous proprietor of Pat O’Brien’s Bar, created the rum-based Hurricane to get rid of excess rum from liquor distributors. The popularity of the hurricane reflected the popularity of his bar, with dueling pianos and, in the courtyard, a flaming fountain.